USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsylvania : comprising a historical sketch of the county, by Samuel T. Wiley, together with more than five hundred biographical sketches of the prominent men and leading citizens of the county > Part 25
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On January 24, 1854, Mr. Torbert mar- ried Emmeline Jones, daugliter of Samuel Jones, of Honeybrook, Pennsylvania, whose ancestors came from England. To their union have been born four children, one son and three daughters : William, a farmer of near Unionville, this county; Hester L .; Rachel, now dead, who was the wife of Charles H. Fahnestock, a business man of Philadelphia ; and Hannah P.
: .
In politics Benjamin J. Torbert has always been a strong democrat, who be- lieves in the principles of the Democratic party as advocated by Thomas Jefferson, and in an economical administration of the government of the United States. By honesty, good judgment and judicious man- agement, Mr. Torbert has acquired a com- peteney, and is now well situated to enjoy life.
H ON. THOMAS MCKEAN, LL. D.,
governor of Pennsylvania for three successive terms, and a signer of the in- mortal Declaration of Independence, was a son of William and Letitia ( Finney) Mc- Kean, and was born in New London town- ship, Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 19, 1734. He received his education at Rev. Francis Alison's academy, and then removed to New Castle, Delaware, where he practiced law and was variously em- ployed in public positions until 1773. He then removed to Philadelphia, where he died June 24, 1817, aged eighty-three years ..
Thomas MeKean was a member of the Colonial Congress of 1765, and of the Con- tinental Congress during its entire exist- ence. In 1777 he was commissioned chief justice of Pennsylvania, although serving at that time as speaker of the assembly, presi- dent of the State of Delaware, and a men- ber of Congress. In 1799 Mr. Mckean was elected governor of Pennsylvania, and served as such until 1808. He wrote the first constitution of Delaware, and was a member of the convention that framed the Pennsylvania constitution of 1790. A dis- tinguished patriot and an eminent jurist, it was his proud distinction to have solidified the Delaware delegation in favor of separa- tion from England, and thus secured the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the unanimous act of the thirteen colonies.
THOMAS C. HOGUE is one of whom it may be said without detracting aught from any other representative business man of southeastern Pennsylvania, that his hon- esty and energy, his great industry and re- markable success in life, and his publie spir- ited interest in the material development
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and substantial prosperity of his borough, county and State, furnish an example worthy of study by the young men of to-day who aspire to an honorable, honest and progres- sive business career. He is a son of Levi and Mary ( Hirst) Hogue, and was born in Belmont county, Ohio, February 25, 1845. When the great northwest territory which Virginia had ceded to the Union was opened to settlers, among those who left the "Old Dominion" to seek their fortunes north of the Ohio river, was William Hogue, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch and a son of William Hogue, sr., who was of Welsh descent. William Hogue was a native of Loudon county, Virginia, where he learned the trade of tanner, and from which he removed about 1800 to Flushing, Belmont county, Ohio. After his removal he embarked in the tanning business upou what was an extensive scale for that early day. He was ingenious and inventive, and a skilled workman whose leather was noted all over his and adjacent counties for its durability and excellent finish. He was a whig, and a member of the Society of Or- thodox Friends, and died about 1846, at an advanced age. He married Sarah Crawford, who was born in his native county, and reared a family of five children : Levi, Elisha, John, Mary Holloway, and Eunice Holloway. Of these children only John and Eunice are living. The eldest son, Levi Hogue (father), was born at Flushing, Ohio, where he learned the trade of tanner, which he followed until his marriage. He then engaged in farming, which received his attention until his death, which occurred April 5, 1857. He was a man of sterling integrity, a strict member and regular attendant of the Society of Friends, and supported the old Whig party. He married Mary Hirst, who was a daughter
of David and Ann Hirst, and who died April 27, 1855. Their children were : David. who was born October 10, 1839, and died August 12, 1850; Asa, born February 23. 1842, married Ruth A. Crew, and is a farmer of Belmont county, Ohio: Thomas C .; Re- becca Wright, born October 22, 1847, and is the wife of Joshua Gilbert, a merchant of West Branch, Iowa; John Barclay, born January 9, 1850, married Mary Lochery. and is a druggist of St. Clairsville, Ohio : and Joseph Scattergood, born October 18, 1852, married Anna M. Steer, and resides at Barnesville, Ohio, where he is engaged in farming and dealing in fine and imported stock.
Thomas C. Hogue attended select schools at his native town until he was fifteen years of age, and then entered Mt. Pleasant Board- ing school of Jefferson county, Ohio, which he attended two winter terms. Soon after leaving this school he became a teacher in the public schools of that State. At the end of one year's teaching, in October, 1864, he came to Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he completed his academical course at West- town Boarding school. He was then pro- moted to tutor, which position he oceupied one year, when he was again advanced to the position of regular teacher in that old institution. He occupied the latter position for four years, to the entire satisfaction of the board of managers. Leaving that ex- cellent educational institution in 1870, he resolved upon entering into an active busi- ness life in some particular line in the great commercial world, and in order to more fully qualify himself for his new undertak- ing he took a course at Bryant & Stratton's Business college in Philadelphia. Immedi- ately after taking his commercial course of studies he came to West Chester, us a desir-
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able location, and after an examination of various lines of business, soleeted that of groceries as the most favorable field in which to embark. He then purchased the interest of T. Elwood Townsend in the grocery firm of Thatcher & Townsend, whose business stand was the oldest in the town and dated back prior to the first year of the present century, when it was founded as a general store by John Townsend. The new firm became Thatcher & Hogue. At the end of a year Mr. Hogne purchased his partner's interest and has condneted a constantly in- creasing business ever since.
On January 4, 1881, Mr. Hogue was united in marriage with Martha J., a daughter of John and Susan Woolley of West Chester. Mr. and Mrs. Hogue have three children : Julia S., born October 17, 1881; Mary J., October 12, 1883 : and Helena MI., June 23, 1885.
The wholesale and retail grocery estab- lishment of Mr. Hogue is situated on the southeast corner of Gay and High streets. The store building is three stories high with a basement, and fronts forty-eight feet on Gay street while it extends back twenty- eight feet on High street. He is the only merchant of West Chester who owns his own warehouse, which is a four story struc- ture on Chestnut street, lying along the tracks of the Pennsylvania railroad, and has a capacity of ten car loads of barrelled goods. In addition to this warehouse he has to rent a part of the old depot, where he has a storage capacity of five ear loads of goods. He carries pure and fresh lines of fine and staple groceries, spiees, canned goods, provisions, fruits, produce, oils, paints and varnishes. His establishment is well equipped with all necessary deviees for sav- ing time and labor, and for the proper dis-
play of his choice and large stock. Al- though young in years as a merchant, yet he is old in practical experience and enjoys perfected facilities and influential trade con- nections. His remarkable success is an in- teresting instance of visible growth, com- mencing with a small business but built on the solid foundation of knowing what his patrons wanted, and growing into a wonder- fully large town and country trade. He employs six clerks and runs two delivery wagons in order to accommodate his custo- mers and fill his orders. In addition to his large mercantile operations Mr. Hogue takes a great interest in growing hot house grapes. Among the leading and late varieties which he grows are: Gross Coleman, Black Ham- burg, Muscat Hamburg, Flame Tokay, Bo- wood-Muscat, Golden Hamburg, Zinfindall, Gross Morock, AnInwiek seedling, Black Prince, Champion Hamburg and Totenham Muscat. The Gross Coleman, his latest va- riety, is a grape that is one and one-quarter inches in diameter, and the clusters vary in weight from one to five pounds, and sell late in winter at from two to five dollars per pound.
In politics Mr. Hogue is a republican. He is a member of the Horticultural so- ciety of Philadelphia, and the Orthodox Society of Friends, in which he is an active and effective worker, often accompanying the ministers of his denomination in their travels in different parts of the United States.
Thomas C. Hogue is a man of quiet man- ners and pleasing address, of consistent morals, and of well known liberality. He makes himself useful in society, in the busi- ness world, the cause of temperanee, the work of his church, and in the eause of Christianity.
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A LFRED P. REID, a prominent mem- ber of the West Chester bar, who is closely identified with the financial, insur- ance and educational affairs of the county, and who has had a large influence in estab- lishing several of the most important and leading banks of southeastern Pennsylva- nia, is a son of James and Hannah ( Mc- Canghey ) Reid, and was born on a farm in Highland township, Chester county, Penn- sylvania, September 3, 1842. Ile is of Seoteh-Irish lineage, and his paternal grand- father, Adam Reid, came from the north of Ireland to Philadelphia, where he kept a grocery store for many years. He was a l'resbyterian in religious faith, like nearly all of the sturdy and energetic race from which he was descended. James Reid was born in Philadelphia, and removed to High- land township, this county, where he served as a school director, and held various other local offices. He married Hannah Me- Caughey, a daughter of Nathaniel Me- Caughey, who was a farmer, came, in 1797, from Londonderry, Ireland, and settled in West Sadsbury township, where he married Jeannette Stewart, a grand-daughter of Walter and Margaret ( Andrew ) Stewart, residents of Chester county as early as 1720.
Alfred P'. Reid grew to manhood on the farm, and attended the district schools. He was prepared for college in Parkesburg. Coatesville and West Chester academics, and then entered Lafayette college, from which well known institution of learning he was graduated in the class of 1864. Hle then read law with Judge Futhey, of West Chester, was admitted to the bar on August 14, 1866, and has been engaged ever since in the successful practice of his profession in West Chester. His practice is second to
none in the county, and is surpassed by few in the eastern part of the State.
On June 15, 1870, Mr. Reid was united in marriage with Emma Bowman, a grand- daughter of JJohn Comly, the author of the celebrated Comly spelling book that was so remarkably popular in its day in Pennsyl- vania. Mr. and Mrs. Reid have three chil- dren, one son and two danghters: Arthur P., Edith C., and Laura B.
Mr. Reid is a republican in politics, and a member and eller of Westminster Pres- byterian church of West Chester. As a lawyer he practices in his own and adjoin- ing counties, and thus comes in contact with some of the ablest lawyers of Penn- sylvania. While prominent, active and progressive in his profession, he finds time to devote considerable attention to educa- tional and business affairs. He is president of the board of trustees of the West Chester State Normal school and the Penn Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which was incor- porated in 1867, and now operates in this and adjoining counties. He owns consid- erable real estate in the county. Alfred P. Reid's chief line of business has been banking, in whose development in south- eastern Pennsylvania he has been a potent factor. He has attained to distinction as a financier of ability and correct business methods. From being a stockholder and director in several banking institutions, his advice and counsels in difficult financial transactions were so judicions and well- timed to the directors of the banks with which he was then connected, that in re- cognition of his special fitness and unusual ability for the management of banking operations, he became vice-president and president of several of those banks. Ile is now serving as vice-president of the First
14
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
National bank of West Chester, and presi- dent of the Dime and Saving bank of West Chester, which he was instrumental in or- ganizing and having incorporated in 1890, under the general banking laws of Pennsyl- vania. The Dime and Saving bank is purely a benevolent organization for the benefit of thousands whose small savings at the end of the week would not be accept- able as deposits at most of the banks. This bank has branches at Phoenixville and other important towns in this section of the State, and has about $30,000 of deposits. It loans its money on real estate, and is in a very prosperous condition. Mr. Reid, in bank management, is conservative and progres- sive, and while neglecting no point of efficiency demanded by modern commercial practice, yet at the same time carefully gnards the interests of the depositors, by scrupulously protecting them against any possibility of risk.
He has also made it a point that the banks with which he is connected are pro- vided with every facility to meet the legiti- mate necessities of the communities in which they are situated. By ability, by energy, by perseverance and integrity, Mr. Reid has carved ont for himself a snecess- ful, distinguished and enviable career.
SANDERS MCCULLOUGH, who
turned his attention chiefly and suc- cessfully to agricultural pursuits, and who was a highly respected citizen of Oxford, was a son of Ilugh and Grace ( Bell ) Me- Cullough, and was born in Lancaster county, February 27, 1809. Hugh McCullough was born and reared in Lancaster county, of which he was a life-long resident. He passed his life on the farm on which he was
born, and died May 3, 1848, when well ad- vanced in the seventy-seventh year of his age. He was an extensive farmer for his day, and a man who was progressive in agri- cultural affairs. He was a strong democrat, trained in the Jeffersonian school, and an ardent supporter of Jackson. He married Grace Bell, and reared a family of four -children.
Sanders Mccullough grew to manhood on his father's farm in Lancaster county, and received his education in the schools of his neighborhood. He assisted his father for a few years in the management and cul- tivation of the home farm, and then en- gaged in farming for himself, which he fol- lowed successfully in his native county until April, 1874, when he removed to Oxford, this county, where he resided until his death, in 1885.
On May 19, 1840, Mr. MeCullough mar- ried Sarah Rowlands, who died April 10, 1849, and on January 16, 1851, he wedded Jeannette King, who is a daughter of John King, a native and life-long resident of Lancaster county, where he died in January, 1847, when in the fifty-fourth year of his age. Mr. King was a prosperous farmer, a strong democrat, and a striet and nseful member of the Presbyterian church. He married Isabella MeSparran, and reared a family of two children : Mrs. Jeannette Mc- Cullough and Mrs. Eleanor Sides.
Sanders McCullough was a successful farmer and business man. He took delight in farming, did all of his work well, and was industrions, hospitable, and charitable. He died on June 26, 1885, and his remains were entombed in a beautiful spot in Chest- nut Level cemetery. He was an old-time democrat in politics, and an active and prominent member and ruling elder of the
,
Maj. L. J. M Cauley.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
Presbyterian church. Mr. Mccullough hon- ored the responsible position which he held in a church that has always called to the eldership men of blameless character and uprightness in life. Ile was a highly re- spected citizen, an earnest Christian, and a useful man, whose death was sincerely de- plored by all who knew hin.
JOHN FINKBINER, one of the oldest and most highly respected citizens of Spring City, and who was successfully en- gaged in agricultural pursuits in East Vin- rent township for nearly fifty years, is a son of Jacob and Mary (Christman) Finkbiner, and was born in East Vincent township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, Angust 8, 1818.
John Finkbiner was reared on the pater- nal acres in his native township, and re- ceived his education in the elementary schools of his neighborhood and Trappe boarding school of Montgomery county. At eighteen years of age he left the farm and became a clerk in the general mercantile store of James Rogers and others of Spring- ville (now Spring City), where he remained abont nine years. At the end of that time he engaged in farming for Miss Eliza Yost and Susanna Finkbiner, which he followed successfully in East Vincent township until 1887, when he retired from active life. Since then he has been a resident of Spring City, whose borough limits now include the larger part of the above farm of Yost and Finkbiner. This valuable farm of seventy- five acres of land has all been soll in build- ing lots, with a number of houses on it.
John Finkbiner is a prohibitionist in polities, and believes that the old parties have outlived the days of their usefulness,
and that political action alone can remove the curse of intemperance from the land and bring lasting prosperity to the country. Ile is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Spring City, and ranks as one of the substantial and reliable citizens of the borough. When Mr. Finkbiner first came to Spring City in 1837, it contained but four houses, and he has lived to see it grow from a small and obscure hamlet to a thrifty and flourishing borough of nearly twenty- five hundred population.
M AJ. L. G. MCCAULEY, one of the surviving Union officers who was a prisoner in the celebrated Libby prison, of Richmond, is a prominent and leading re- publican of Chester county, whose useful- ness as a citizen and county official, and whose success in business life is due to his ability, supplemented by an energy that enables him to make the best possible use of such opportunities as come within his grasp. He is a son of John and Lydia (Gheen ) MeCauley, and was born in West Whiteland township, Chester county, Penn- sylvania, September 2, 1837. The Me- Cauley family is of Scotch-Irish deseent, and John MeCauley was born at Concord, Delaware county, this State, July 29, 1804. He grew to manhood and received his edu- cation in his native county, which he left in early life to settle in East Goshen township, Chester county. He died at West Chester, September 11, 1869, when in the eighty- sixth year of his age. In 1844 Mr. Mc- Cauley removed to Harrisburg, where he was sergeant-at-arms of the State senate until 1846, when he went to Victoria Iron works, Dauphin county, of which he was general manager until the commencement
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of the late war. He then raised two hun- dred men for a Pennsylvania regiment, of which Governor Curtin declined to com- mission him colouel on account of his age. He was an active and energetic business man. He married Lydia Gheen, who was born August 31, 1815, in East Goshen township, and died in Luzerne county, April 24, 1850, at thirty-five years of age. She was a daughter of Levi Gheen, who was born and reared in East Goshen township, and married Mary Chamberlain, a native of Chester county. Mr. and Mrs. McCauley reared a family of ten children, seven sons and three daughters. Four of the sons served in the Union army : William Cooper, who served in the 31st New Jersey; John Roberts, enlisted in the 15th New Jersey, and was shortly afterwards detached as a inember of General Penrose's staff; Maj. L. G .; and Lieut. James Neil, now dead, who served in Co. F, 7th Pennsylvania reserves.
L. G. MeCauley was reared on the farm, received his education in the public schools and Wyoming seminary, and at eighteen years of age went to the Vulcan Iron works, ยท where he spent three years in learning mne- chanical engineering. At the end of that time he entered the employ of the New York & Erie Railroad Company at Snsque- hanna, and worked for them one year at Susquehanna station, which place he left in the spring of 1859 to go to Alabama, where he was successfully engaged in the iron busi- ness until the spring of 1861, when the war of the great rebellion came and paralyzed the industries of the land. Mr. MeCauley hurriedly left Alabama, and before the ave- nues of travel northward were closed hast- ened home to take up arms in defeuse of the imperilled liberties of his country. He
entered the command which his father was raising, but after arriving at Harrisburg he declined to be mustered into the service in that regiment, and went to Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, where he enlisted in what was afterwards known as Co. F, 7th Penu- sylvania reserves. He was sworn into the United States service June 13, 1861, as first sergeant, and on January 14, 1862, was pro- moted to first lieutenant. He was in the fam- ous peninsular campaign, and participated in the battles of Mechanicsburg, Gaines' Mill, and the stubbornly contested Seven Days fight. He was next engaged in the fight at Charles City Cross Roads, where he commanded his company, and where he re- ceived a gunshot wound in his right elbow, which necessitated the amputation of his arm, and which operation was performed by Dr. Kittenger, of Lockport, New York. The next morning he was captured by "Stone- wall" Jackson's corps, and after remaining seven days in the field hospital he was taken to Savage Station, and from thence sent to the celebrated Libby prison, of Richmond, where he was held as a prisoner for seventy days before he was paroled. After being paroled he was sent by the Federal authorities to Harrisburg, in which city he was employed in the recruiting service until in January, 1863, when he was exchanged, and reported for active duty at Washington city. He was promoted to captain July 20, 1863, and served in the department of Washington mutil June, 1866, when his services were no longer needed, and he was honorably dis- charged from the United States service. He returned the same year to West Chester, where he has resided ever since, and with whose business interests he has been prom- inently identified for the last decade.
On October 6, 1870, Mr. MeCanley was
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united in marriage with Isabella Darling- ton, daugliter of the late William and Catherine Darlington, of West Chester.
In polities Major MeCauley has always been an earnest and leading worker in the Republican party, whose principles he has always maintained and advocated ever since he cast his first vote in 1858 for Galnsha A. Grow, for Congress. In 1867-68 he served as assistant sergeant-at-arms of the State senate of Pennsylvania, and the next year was elected as register of wills of Chester county, for a term of three years, which he served in a very acceptable manner to all who had business with the office during that time. He was chairman of the repub- liean county committee during the years 1886, 1887, 1888 and 1889, and then de- clined any farther re-election. Major Me- Canley has also served frequently as a del- egate to the republican county, congres- sional, and State conventions, and in 1890, by his hard work and good generalship, held Chester county solid in the guberna- torial contest in the State convention for General Hastings, the " Hero of the Johns- town flood." He is a member of the Mili- tary Order of the Loyal Legion, of Penn- sylvania, and a member and past com- mander of MeCall Post, No. 31. Grand Army of the Republic. In military and political life he has well borne his part. Major MeCanley has been most useful to his city and county. He is one of those men whose ability and energy allow them not to be idle in the educational life and business prosperity of their communities, whose in- tellectual and material advancement is as dear to them as the triumph of their own most cherished plans of individual success. Heis a trustee of the West Chester State Nor- mal school, and a director of the Farmers'
National bank and the Coatesville Gas Company. In 1873 he was elected to his present position of general manager of the West Chester Gas Company, and is still a member of the Good Will Fire company, of which he was presi- dent for five years. Major MeCauley is now in the midst of an active career in varions lines of business, and brings to their successful management the wise forethought and judgment which have ever been his distinguishing characteristics.
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